


Father's Lament

by Corveille



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Carl Manfred & Markus Parent-Child Relationship, Deviant Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feelings, Gen, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Leo Manfred Redemption, Leo Needs a Hug, Revolutionary Markus (Detroit: Become Human), graveyards, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 17:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18878272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corveille/pseuds/Corveille
Summary: Markus never thought he’d find himself back here tonight, he certainly had not planned it. But he didn’t regret it.......now that he was at the gates of the cemetery, he’d almost forgotten the peace that came with it.





	Father's Lament

Markus never thought he’d find himself back here tonight. He certainly had not planned it but he didn’t regret it, as it was, not when he needed the change of pace. For it was always at these hours when most doubts would take over inside of him.

Quite ironic how, to hide away from all the things plaguing his mind, he’d chosen such a quiet and lonely place, where little distraction could be given. A place fit for numbing all his processors...

 

_You seem rather bored, Markus. Mind joining me for a game of chess?_

 

And it had been long enough, he owned a visit to the man who had taught him everything. Now that he was at the gates of the cemetery, he’d almost forgotten the peace that came with it.

 

He knew this path from memory as he had done the same walk many times before. Gravel shifting under his boot a sound as familiar as the gravestones around him. The night was calm and clear. The slight breeze dancing around him in a slow waltz a comforting company, before it decided to chase for a new partner between the branches, disturbing the stillness of the night. Even with the sweet lulling of the moon watching over him, his resolve was weak.

Markus wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to stay around for more than a few minutes this time, before the pain festering within his pump won over his will.

Time was supposed to heal wounds, was as the old saying went but, if so, why was it that this feeling only grew stronger after each visit? His people might not be able to experience it physically, but damage could take many forms. The emotional type, he learned was the hardest of them all, lasting and crushing. A poison that took away at your being slowly with little antidote that could be of real help.

But out here he didn’t have to worry about looking strong, what could become of his race in the future or what had been. Out here there were no reporters, no politicians that could judge him. No lover or friends to whisper in his ears, just him...

Just him. 

In many ways he felt like a ghost. Wandering, searching for the ones he loved but could never have again. His only consolation being that all the deaths he witnessed had not been in vain. That battle had come to an end and androids were gaining recognition as living beings. They had won their freedom and yet, now more than ever, Markus felt restrained, caged by the duties and new rules of a game he’d never been prepared to play.

All concerns for another day, for now he kept walking.

It didn’t take long for him to find what he’d come here for. Even in a sea of graves bathed by dim light, Carl’s stone was imposing. Black as the night around him, the white letters seemed to glow back at him in greeting, as if Carl had been waiting patiently for him to come.

But not only him...

From where he stood, Markus took notice of a shadowy figure that was crouched by the graveside with a hand pressed against the granite, gently tracing over the imprints, trying to get rid of any pecks of snow.

Their head was lowered, seemingly watching the floral arrangements spread all around in a circle of color. Big and vibrant, expected for a man of such fame.

Lilies, roses, geraniums. Devotion, love, hope. All noble symbols but meaningless coming from those who had never really met the great painter.

Markus’ eyes traveled to one among many, now wilted and devoid of life. One he had left on his last time here.

Gladiolus, Carl’s favorites.

He took a few steps closer, curious but cautious of the idea that this man could be more than just a dedicated fan. He adjusted his optical sensitivity a few notches and the man’s features came into view. It had been months since he had had any form of interaction, but he could tell that the person was familiar.

He had not seen Carl’s legitimate son since that fateful fight that had stolen the painter away from him, from them and yet...in a lot of regards he was still the same. The slight twitching of his neck, locks painted a dark hazel on top of pale skin. His slight stubble had grown longer, more defined, taking over his chin and and the corner of his lips.

“Leo?” Markus asked as he walked tentatively towards him, failing to hide his disbelief. He’d gotten rid of his black beanie and had changed his jacket for a turtleneck, all too light for this weather.

Leo didn’t turn to address him, nor did he answer back. He picked one of the flowers laying forgotten on the ground and stood up slowly, caressing the leaves and petals of the blue rose with gentle strokes. Markus notices that said plant was fake. Stern made of plastic, quite cheap in design, and the flower sewed around with thin and fast stitches. Work that could dive into amateur mistakes.

 

“Markus…” That voice was soft, low and frail in the wind that carried around them. But it was Leo’s. He turned to look back at the android and brought the flower between them, a scowl reaching over his cold features. “Look at all these idiots trying to pass as righteous, so generous of them to get the simplest of things _wrong_...” the fake petals were crushed under his fingertips, “you’re one of the few who bothered to leave real flowers, old man always hated plastic.”

Bloodshot eyes looked at him with hidden rage. His hand twitched and tightened around the broken floral set as he watched him. “....but he never hated you.”

“He never hated _you,_ ” he repeated, “no, he idolized you. Thought of you as his only family when all he had to do to not feel lonely was turn his fucking head around!” Leo threw the wrecked plastic on the ground as his voice grew louder.

“You know that’s not true. He loved you, Leo,” Markus said with a calm, soft tone as he brought his hands up, trying to appease the sudden fit of anger that had taken hold of Leo.

“ _Loved me_ ,” Leo voice cracked in that scream, “....loved me,” he chuckled to himself as if that were a joke only he knew the punchline to, “ he had a funny way of showing it.”

Markus stopped a few feet away from the grave and activated his scanners, that only confirmed what he had dreaded since the moment he saw him. Had he use it recently or was this just the after- effect left on his body? He couldn’t be sure. He didn’t want to be sure as it wouldn’t be of any help to defuse the tension between them.

“But you see, coming here had helped me clear my head," He gestured vaguely between them, "and I get it, totally get what the old man was thinking…” Leo balanced on the heel of his feet, wide smile looking wrong on his face, devoid of any humor. “Why bother with his own flesh and blood when the epitome of perfection was right at his side?”

He craned his neck backwards and let out a choked laugh, “but of course you wouldn’t get that, you’re an android.” His eyes looked back at Markus,"what do you know about family?" Emotions or not you’re just another _machine,_ ” he spitted the last word as if he was disgusted by it.

And Markus was hurt, angry that someone was still using those terms after all he had done to change people’s mind about them. He thought about how it’d be better to let the man rant at him until he got tired and his voice grew too raspy. Wait for him to be gone and only then, come back to this place.

He looked down where the remains of the only human he had loved laid and remembered the wisdom in his words.

 

_Humans are fragile machines, Markus._

 

He looked at the mess of a man before him. “You’re wrong, listen--.”

“Why the hell am I still here?” Leo asked, ignoring the android all together, “I’m sure such a famous plastic as yourself doesn’t want to hear about my problems,” he said to the sky as he started to move backwards.

“Wait, Leo.”

“Better not be here in case I fuck-up something.” He spun on his feet and brought his arm up in a halfhearted wave.

And maybe Markus should abandon the idea of helping him. Leo had never bothered to listen to him before his deviancy and he wouldn't start now, less of all with that mindset and yet... Markus watched the shivering figure retreat and glanced at the name carved on the granite marble. He searched through his memories as the letters burned themselves inside his pump.

  
And yet...despite of that he...

 

_“You know Markus…sometimes I really worry about Leo…”_  

 

Leo froze, boot hovering inches above the grounds, as if someone had gotten hold of a control to freeze the frame of a movie. He didn’t move...didn’t breathe.

 

_"You should had seen him when he was just a teen. I was surprised so much anger could fit into such a short body…”_

 

“...shut up,” a weak mumble, that was soon lost in the wind.

 

_"The arguments we would have….hum....one time we fought over whether my painting should have a dolphin or a whale. He had just a way to get around everything I threw at him….he got that from his mother…”_

 

“I said **SHUT UP!** ” In three long strides Leo got in Markus face and gripped at the corners of his coat. All wide-eyed and with a snarl on his face, all too familiar to Markus. The first time he had done nothing.

 

_“He had such a bright future ahead of him, might not have been the best artist but he was really good at math…”_

 

He’d not make that same mistake.

 

_“I was never there to see him grow Markus... and now I can’t be there for him, he doesn’t want me to be…”_

 

“You-you’re lying, he never said that he never--” Words were getting harder to get out as his breathing increased its pace. “Fucking stop it, _right now_.” But Markus wouldn’t, not until Leo saw how much his life had meant to the man now laying between them. 

 So fixated he was on his father’s disappointment he couldn’t see the meaning behind it. Carl’s heart had ached so much for him that he had seen all his son’s failures as his own. Markus got a hold of each arm and brought him closer, ignoring the loud protests and promise of pain tossed his way.

Leo put up a fight, albeit shortly. Legs coming up to kick him, a headbutt that did more harm to him than it did to Markus.

 

“Let me go you asshole! This is--.”

 

_“And I just sit here in this chair...watching him get further away from me. Seeing how his life goes down the drain….”_

 

“--you can’t just come here and do this. Is this some sick twisted revenge for when I pushed you?!”

 

“No…” a short change of voice, brief to make a point, did little to keep Leo barely intact composure. Markus looked at him, stared deep into his exhausted gaze and did not see and enemy but a frail child. One that was as haunted by the same ghost of the past as Markus was. He'd hurt and had grieved just like him...

Maybe it was time for his wounds to heal, as well.

 

_“I can only wonder, if I had come sooner to him…if I had tried to be more than just an icon, would any of that have made our relationship better?…”_

 

“Even in his last moment, he thought of you, the perfect android he--.”Markus heard a choked gasp as Leo tried to keep the swirl of emotions under control. He could see tears dancing on the corners of his eyelids, but by virtue of his own stubbornness they refused to go down,“--and now you come at me with this.” Markus chose to keep silent and tightened his hold. He closed his eyes and uttered the last words of his recording into his ear. 

 

_"I love him, Markus...but I don’t know how to help him.”_

 

And as if he had received a final blow Leo crumbled in his embrace, hands gripped at his back and nails dug deep into his back. He brought his head down and pressed his forehead to Markus’ shoulder. His body shook up and down as tears soon stained Markus' coat in a silent cry.

“It’s okay, it’s okay now,” Markus put a hand on the top of his head and ran his fingers through the unkempt hair. “He loved you, he _loved_ you,” he reassured one last time. Leo bit the lapel around his neck to stop his whimpers from coming out, afraid someone might hear. But there was no reason to hide in here when it was just them.

 

Just the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> >.>  
> <.<  
>  _Leaves paper tissues and flees the scene_


End file.
